Visual arts & new media

Work of the Week: Remembering Joan Stebbins

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In remembrance of Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery who passed away on December 13, 2025, we share her artwork “Heart Attacks.”

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Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin (SAAG), passed away on December 13, 2025 at the age of 84.

Joan had been involved with SAAG beginning in 1979 shortly after the Gallery opened to the public. She worked her way through the organization and became Director / Curator in 1985 and served in that position until her retirement in 2007. Her leadership has been credited with the gallery being viewed as one of the country’s leading contemporary arts institutions.

Throughout Joan’s career, she has received a number of honours, which include The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artists award, a Member of the Order of Canada, an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Lethbridge, and an RCA Medal from the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

To honour the memory of Joan Stebbins and her invaluable contributions to the visual arts, we present her artwork, Heart Attacks (1979), which is part of the Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

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Work of the Week: Remembering Joan Stebbins
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In remembrance of Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery who passed away on December 13, 2025, we share her artwork “Heart Attacks.”

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Work of the Week: Remembering Joan Stebbins
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In remembrance of Joan Stebbins, former Director and Curator of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery who passed away on December 13, 2025, we share her artwork “Heart Attacks.”

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See more artworks in the AFA Collection
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Artist Profile
Work of the Week
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Communications and Marketing Officer
Art discipline
Visual arts & new media
Location
Southern Alberta
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Drawings of hearts and circles with the letter X drawn through some of them laid out in three rows over a white background.
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Drawings of hearts and circles with the letter X drawn through some of them laid out in three rows over a white background.
Artist
Joan Stebbins
Title
Heart Attacks
Year
1979
Medium
etching on paper
Collections Images Slideshow
Drawings of hearts and circles with the letter X drawn through some of them laid out in three rows over a white background.
Joan Stebbins
Heart Attacks
1979
etching on paper

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